Fury as girl freed for smashing bottle on PC
FURIOUS police yesterday slammed a judge after a drunken girl who smashed a bottle over a policeman’s head avoided going to jail.
Lori Clayton, 23, ran “as fast as her stilettos would allow” to launch the savage attack on PC Sean Clapham as he tried to break up a brawl outside a bar.
Despite pleading guilty to the attack Clayton, who had downed two bottles of wine, was allowed to walk free by a soft-hearted judge because the offender is now three months pregnant.
PC Clapham described the attack, which left him with permanent scarring, as “the worst he has suffered in his 24 years” in the force.
The slap-on-the-wrist at Teesside Crown Court on Friday prompted stinging criticism from rank-and-file officers.
Andrea Breeze, of the Cleveland Police Federation, said: “This is a very disappointing sentence for an attack on a police officer who was merely doing his job.
“We should not be subject to such physical unprovoked attacks.
“The judicial system needs to start supporting police officers in the execution of their duty and recognising the risks they are subject to every day by imposing custodial sentences.”
She warned that the sentence would not serve as a deterrent to help prevent more unprovoked assaults on police officers.
“Like any other victim of an assault, the impact should be taken seriously when determination of sentence is being made, she added.
Shocked
“Every year thousands of police officers are assaulted and yet we continue to be criticised when we use personal protective equipment to protect ourselves and the public.”
Earlier the court heard how Clayton, from Billingham, Teesside, struck PC Clapham with the bottle as he tried to break up a fight outside Chambers Bar in the centre of Middlesbrough in February.
She claimed that she did not realise he was a policeman because he was in plain-clothes.
The court heard that he was holding a baton and shouting, “I’m a police officer.” Richard Herrmann, prosecuting, told how Clayton ran at PC Clapham “as fast as her footwear would allow”.
Mr Herrmann added: “He said he was hit with such a significant blow that he thought he had been struck with a metal bar.”
The officer was left with a one-anda-half inch scar on his head and scarring to his ear which remains painful and has caused sleep problems.
Mr Herrmann added: “It left him feeling wary and shocked.”
But Clayton escaped jail after Judge Howard Crowson was told that she was three months pregnant and concluded custody would do “more harm than good”.
Clayton was given a suspended prison sentence, ordered to do community service and told to pay £500 court costs.
Judge Crowson accepted Clayton may not have realised her victim was a police officer because she was drunk when she inflicted the blow.
He said: “This all happened because you were drunk and people often act in ways they regret when they are drunk.”